British Foreign Office View

[astral]

This week the BBC Reporters programme has a 48 hours with the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw.

They make a point about his concern over Kenneth Bigley, held prisoner in Iraq.

The FS even calls the family....... the brothers in the UK,

no mention made of his legal wife here in Thailand!!!

Am I the only one who thinks that attitude stinks??

[otherstuff1957]

I saw that program too & thought the same thing! I don't think that it's a uniquely British problem though, I expect Colin Powell would do the same - that is - if he bothered to call the family at all!

[GuestHouse]

Maybe you smell a rat where there is no rat.

Is the British Government actually aware (legally aware) that this couple are married?

Have they registered their marriage at the British Embassy? Where they married in the UK?

The problem arises that if they have not registered their marriage but the British Government went on to state that they are married they would be endorsing a marriage that may not actually exist under British Law.

That is not to say that a Thai marriage is not acceptable but it has to meet with a number of criteria to be accepted under British Law.

Consider for a moment that the relationship does not meet British Law (I am not saying it doesn't but it may not). This 'wife' might then make a claim on the estate of Mr. Biggley if he dies during his custody.

I believe the British Government are right to act as they do.

I have seen more than one occassion where Foreigners/Thais claim to be married but are not acutally married.

Providing offical acceptance for such relationships (or where there is no legal certainty of the relationsip) can prove very risky to British citizens and the legall accepted relatives.

[Mr Helper]

Just like to add that I live here in Liverpool, and the Bigley Family have been on the television here almost everyday, with no mention from them whatsoever of his Thai wife. No mention on the local news either, just a small mention in the 'Liverpool Echo'(Liverpool's equivalant of the BKK Post). The family have mentioned all the "OTHER" members of the family apart from the Thai wife..........strange hey?!?!?

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Just like to add that I live here in Liverpool, and the Bigley Family have been on the television here almost everyday, with no mention from them whatsoever of his Thai wife. No mention on the local news either, just a small mention in the 'Liverpool Echo'(Liverpool's equivalant of the BKK Post). The family have mentioned all the "OTHER" members of the family apart from the Thai wife..........strange hey?!?!?

Perhaps it is not a formal marriage at all.

[stumonster]

or how many of them are fans of eastenders? with their recent documentry on thai women?

racism is a national pastime in most countries.

[Ajarn]

Just like to add that I live here in Liverpool, and the Bigley Family have been on the television here almost everyday, with no mention from them whatsoever of his Thai wife. No mention on the local news either, just a small mention in the 'Liverpool Echo'(Liverpool's equivalant of the BKK Post). The family have mentioned all the "OTHER" members of the family apart from the Thai wife..........strange hey?!?!?

Perhaps it is not a formal marriage at all.

My guess would be that the marriage is legit, but the ex-wife and others are too ashamed to talk about it. Guess I might not want to, either... And some may feel that mention of such a situation might take away some of the public support for Mr. Bigley, like some thinking that he 'abandoned' his family for her, and it has happened plenty of times in other families, na'?

[taxexile]

i am in the uk at the moment and have seen ken bigleys thai wife (sombat) quite a few times on the tv news (bbc and itv) in the first week or so after his kidnapping.

she was interviewed with an interpreter in the grounds of the british embassy in bangkok a couple of times and her picture has been in the uk newspapers a few times too.

[lungbing]

GuestHouse,

If Mr. Bigley married his wife at their amphur and thus have wedding certificates, then whether or not they told the British Embassy about it their wedding is recognised under British law.

I believe the only reason to inform the Embassy is that the wedding then finally appears listed in one of the hundreds of large volumes of indices to all weddings in UK/ UK Embassies/Territories/ships/etc since mid-1837 (except Scotland who have their own indices). TheUK ones are held in London, formerly at Somerset House (now only wills are there) then St. Catherine's House on the Aldwych , and then four or five years agao they moved to new premises. The indices, but not the original certificates, are freely available for searching by the public.

Of course if they only had an Isaan wedding, and/or a monk's blessing ceremony then there is no legal wedding. (Nor is there under Thai law I believe).

Lung Bing

[wolf5370]

TaxExile said:

i am in the uk at the moment and have seen ken bigleys thai wife (sombat) quite a few times on the tv news (bbc and itv) in the first week or so after his kidnapping.

she was interviewed with an interpreter in the grounds of the british embassy in bangkok a couple of times and her picture has been in the uk newspapers a few times too.

Completely agree. I have seen Sombat on TV in the UK (am here at the moment) more than I have seen the UK side. She has been interviewed in English and via an interpreter. She was on the front page of the Metro (London paper with large circulation - its free!)

I was wed in LOS. I am British. I have never registered with the British Embassy and the first they knew about it was when I applied for her first Visa to take her to the UK. She now has dual nationality, no problems.

[Mr Helper]

For the last 3 posters, you have not read my post properly. I mentioned the fact Bigleys own family have not even mentioned a thing about his Thai wife, although they have said things about themselves and the other members of the family. Also the fact that there has been nothing of it in Granada Reports, or news Northwest (the TV news which covers Liverpool, and the rest of the North West of the country), and there has only been a small article about her in the Liverpool Echo Liverpools newspaper. regardless of what has been printed in the London metro, or other papers, it hasn't been seen in the local north west ones. And anyhow, why haven't his own family mentioned a thing about her, I mean surley his own wife must be an important member of the family???

[wolf5370]

He married in LOS, lives in Bangers. The 'family' may never had even met her. How close a family were they?

PS: Read your post correctly, was just expanding that it had been reported nationallly (post implied that UK media was ignoring her); it was just the Northern rags that were biased towards the local family.

PPS: He has just been given Irish citizenship (and passport) in an attempt to convince the Terrorist to let him go. Not sure what they mean by this..."He's not British, honest" or "Our terrorist groups were good buddies once-apon-a-time and even shared training grounds".

[dr_Pat_Pong]

GuestHouse,

If Mr. Bigley married his wife at their amphur and thus have wedding certificates, then whether or not they told the British Embassy about it their wedding is recognised under British law.

I believe the only reason to inform the Embassy is that the wedding then finally appears listed in one of the hundreds of large volumes of indices to all weddings in UK/ UK Embassies/Territories/ships/etc since mid-1837 (except Scotland who have their own indices). TheUK ones are held in London, formerly at Somerset House (now only wills are there) then St. Catherine's House on the Aldwych , and then four or five years agao they moved to new premises. The indices, but not the original certificates, are freely available for searching by the public.

Of course if they only had an Isaan wedding, and/or a monk's blessing ceremony then there is no legal wedding. (Nor is there under Thai law I believe).

Lung Bing

Thailand does only recognize legal registered marriages. De facto or common law situations count for nothing in Thailand.

[damnaam]

PPS: He has just been given Irish citizenship (and passport) in an attempt to convince the Terrorist to let him go. Not sure what they mean by this..."He's not British, honest" or "Our terrorist groups were good buddies once-apon-a-time and even shared training grounds". .......

...and all this in aid of a man who showed scant regard for his own security in Iraq and when questioned about this said ' I'm not afraid of dying, you only die once'. Guess talk really is cheap sometimes

[astral]

Have they registered their marriage at the British Embassy? Where they married in the UK?

You raise an interesting point there.

A legal Thai marriage is accepted by the UK tax man.

I got an allowance for my wife with a translation of my Thai marriage cert.

For many things Common Law realtionships are also recognised in the UK,

and I would have thought that the Buddhist ceremony would fall in that category.

Now how do I register a marriage with the embassy??

I went to their web site and registered myself.

The form then goes on an asks for my wife's details,

so I gave her name, dob etc.

The problem came when the site asked for nationality.

The only one's they accept are Uk and Irish.......nothing else

Which kind of brings me back to my original point!!

Edited October 7, 2004 by astral

[Boon Mee]

This week the BBC Reporters programme has a 48 hours with the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw.

They make a point about his concern over Kenneth Bigley, held prisoner in Iraq.

The FS even calls the family....... the brothers in the UK,

no mention made of his legal wife here in Thailand!!!

Am I the only one who thinks that attitude stinks??

Yep, it sucks.

The British are worse than the Yanks in this regard.

"But old boy, you can't bring one of them home with you. They wouldn't fit in" ad nasuem.

[RDN]

This week the BBC Reporters programme has a 48 hours with the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw....Am I the only one who thinks that attitude stinks??

Yep, it sucks.

Jack Straw is a complete w@anker, in over his head IMHO.

The British are worse than the Yanks in this regard.

Not this ex-Brit.

[medicinebox]

Would the foreign secretary of Thailand call the falang wife of a Thai held hostage in Iraq???

Bwhaaaahaaa........think not...

Maybe on collect call..??? naahhh.

[SoCal]

It is not uncommon for previous family (ex wife and kids) to have issues with the new (Thai) wife, particularly if there is an age difference.

Maybe this has something to do with it.